Are frogs gay

"The majority of frogs in most areas of the United States are now gay," Jones said in The claim was without evidence. Popular weed killer demasculinizes frogs, disrupts their sexual development, UC Berkeley study shows 04 April By Robert Sanders, Media Relations. "The majority of frogs in most areas of the United States are now gay," Jones said in The claim was without evidence.

Abnormal gonads in a male Xenopus frog, the result of exposure to the herbicide atrazine.

Press Releases. France, Germany, Italy, Sweden and Norway are among countries that have banned the use of atrazine. A restricted herbicide, atrazine is used primarily on crops, not around the home, and can be purchased and applied only by certified applicators. High-resolution image available for download. Even with today's limits, levels of 40 ppb atrazine have been measured in rain and spring water in parts of the Midwest, while atrazine in agricultural runoff can be present at several parts per million.

For example, the idea that frogs are gay is a common misconception that has been perpetuated by misinformation. In addition, microscopic examination of the internal organs of the frogs is required to detect the hidden effects from low-dose exposure. Image Downloads. This article offers a genealogy of the gay frog, situating this recent moment in the longer history of “sex panics” over gay animals described by queer ecologists, and in the context of an ongoing backlash against feminism and trans liberation.

Most notably, American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cited research on the effects of atrazine on frogs, which can induce spontaneous sex change or hermaphroditism, to claim that the U.S. government was "putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay" as part of a "chemical warfare operation" to increase homosexuality and.

The changes he found in the gonads were not discovered with the traditional high-dose atrazine experiments used in the past. Most notably, American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones cited research on the effects of atrazine on frogs, which can induce spontaneous sex change or hermaphroditism, to claim that the U.S. government was "putting chemicals in the water that turn the friggin’ frogs gay" as part of a "chemical warfare operation" to increase homosexuality and.

It is unclear whether these abnormalities lead to reduced fertility. To date, atrazine's effects on mammals and amphibians have been tested only at large doses, not at doses commonly found in the environment. In , a government lab did request funds to pursue the development. The herbicide atrazine, one of the world's most widely used pesticides, screws up the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by UC Berkeley's Tyrone Hayes.

Hayes now is trying to determine how the abnormalities affect the frogs' ability to produce offspring. As Hayes later discovered, many atrazine-contaminated ponds in the Midwest contain native leopard frogs with the same abnormalities. The herbicide also contaminates drinking water supplies in many communities in the Midwest, leading some environmental groups to voice concern about its effect on children, infants and the fetus.

Frog research also helps to debunk misconceptions and myths surrounding amphibian sexuality. The findings come at a time when the EPA is re-evaluating allowable levels of atrazine in drinking water, which stand today at 3 parts per billion ppb , and has drafted new criteria for the protection of aquatic life, limiting four-day average exposures to 12 ppb.

Jones claimed that the

Hayes found hermaphroditism in frogs at levels as low as 0. Hayes, associate professor of integrative biology, and his colleagues report that atrazine at levels often found in the environment demasculinizes tadpoles and turns them into hermaphrodites - creatures with both male and female sexual characteristics. The herbicide atrazine, one of the world's most widely used pesticides, screws up the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by UC Berkeley's Tyrone Hayes.

In their journal article, Hayes and his colleagues write, "The effective doses in the current study This article provides an easy-to-understand look at the theory of frogs being gay as well as a deeper dive into how frogs are being used to represent human sexual identity and sexual orientation. The herbicide also lowers levels of the male hormone testosterone in sexually mature male frogs by a factor of 10, to levels lower than those in normal female frogs.

The frog has become a hermaphrodite, that is, it has both male testes and female ovaries sex organs. Because the herbicide has been in use for 40 years in some 80 countries, its effect on sexual development in male frogs could be one of many factors in the global decline of amphibians, he added.